The Paris Paralympics is round the corner, and Mona Agarwal is revving up for sport’s biggest stage the right way.
Within a month of securing the Paralympic quota and gold in women’s 10m air rifle SH1 category at the Para Shooting World Cup in New Delhi, Mona struck gold again in her pet event at the Changwon World Cup on Thursday.
In the space of 30 days, the 37-year-old has reinforced that nothing can come in the way if determination is the driving force.
A product of struggle since her childhood days, Mona continues to battle the odds at home and the shooting range, but raising the bar all the time in the midst of adversity has made her a name to watch out for at the Paris Games.
In an exclusive interview with the indianshooting.com, Mona had laid out her plans for the Paris buildup, and the Changwon World Cup featured prominently in the blueprint.
The aim was to get another high moment, and so it was in Korea as Mona struck gold with a personal best of 250.8 in the final by outscoring Slovakia’s Veronika Vadovicova (250.0) and Sweden’s Anna Benson (228.8).
A reflection of her journey in life and shooting — of steeping up all the time, Mona shot 625.5 in qualifcation, another personal best, to make the final at fifth.
Veronika topped qualification with a world record score of 628.3, ahead of Anna’s 627.0. Korea’s Yunri Lee followed with a 626.6.
Re-emphasizing what she said after the Delhi triumph, Mona, happy to have proved herself right, said, “After the World Cup (in March) I thought of having a practice match (in Changwon) just to recheck the performance and if I am on the right track for the Paralympics.”
She stands vindicated and the upcoming Olympic camp at the Karni Singh Shooting Range will only hone her determination for glory in Paris.
India featured strongly in the Mixed 25m Pistol SH1 as well with three shooters making the final. Amir Ahmad Bhat emerged the top name with a score of 24, outscoring Korea’s Kyun Sea Park (23) in the shoot-off for silver. The gold went to Ukraine’s Olekskii Denysiuk (28).
Rahul Jakhar (19) took the fourth spot by beating Indian teammate Nihal Singh (18) in another shoot-off.
In qualification, Bhat (574) was fourth while Nihal (573) and Rahul (565) were fifth and eighth, respectively. Vikash Bhatiwal failed to qualify after shooting 564, and finished ninth.
Korea’s Jungnam Kim topped qualification with a score of 580.